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danielstarrason's avatar
danielstarrason
Explorer | Level 4
2 years ago

Dropbox Backup can't find external hard drives - Mac Ventura 13.0.1

Hi everyone, I've seen people have a similar issue but haven't found a workaround.  I'm planning to backup a couple of hard drives using the Dropbox backup option. But when I use the desktop app (...
Dropbox Backup
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
2 years ago

Are these all the drives that aren't appearing on the Dropbox Backup prompt, or only specific drives?

 

What file systems are the drives formatted in?

  • danielstarrason's avatar
    danielstarrason
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

    They are all Mac OS Extended. 

    Since I've been meaning to set up my backup I haven't seen a drive connected to DropBox, now I remember though when I connected to my personal account it saw the hard drives. But I have to use my Advanced account for this. 

    • Nancy's avatar
      Nancy
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      2 years ago

      Hey Daniel, I hope you’re doing well. 

       

      Can you please clarify for me what’s the app version of your desktop app, as well as its current syncing status?

      • danielstarrason's avatar
        danielstarrason
        Explorer | Level 4
        2 years ago

        Hi Nancy, thanks for your reply. 

        Everything is up to date as current syncing status shows.

        Here is my current version:



        Thanks!

    • Megan's avatar
      Megan
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      2 years ago

      Hi danielstarrason, sorry to jump in here! 

       

      Just keep in mind that this feature only supports external drives with filesystem type APFS or HFS+ for Macs. There's no chance the drives are formatted differently, right? 
       

      Also, can you check for a .dbxignore and .dropbox.device, which are in the root folder of your external drive, and delete them?

       

      Afterwards, disconnect the drive and reconnect it.

      • danielstarrason's avatar
        danielstarrason
        Explorer | Level 4
        2 years ago

        Thanks Megan, now we're getting somewhere! 

        Plugged in an old drive, formatted as APFS and it's working like it should! Is DropBox not equipped to make a backup of MacOS Extended formatted disks?

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